
Sign up to save your podcasts
Or


Beekeeper Anthony Smith looks after several hundred beehives across Herefordshire and South East Wales. This episode of Slow Radio takes us to one of his apiaries where we eavesdrop on Anthony’s activities. It’s the middle of the summer, and the bees are at their busiest.
Many of the sounds of bees and beekeeping have barely changed for thousands of years, whereas others are distinctly modern. We’ll hear single bees collecting nectar as they move from flower to flower, and clusters of bees jostling against each other inside a busy hive. The beekeeper releases puffs of smoke to calm his bees as he inspects their work and we can hear the subtle differences in buzzing between a colony with or without a queen.
Over in the workshop, or ‘honey room’, we witness the processes that transform a frame of honeycomb into a pot of honey, from the spinning of the frames to the filling of the jars.
A Tandem Production for BBC Radio 3
By BBC Radio 33.9
185185 ratings
Beekeeper Anthony Smith looks after several hundred beehives across Herefordshire and South East Wales. This episode of Slow Radio takes us to one of his apiaries where we eavesdrop on Anthony’s activities. It’s the middle of the summer, and the bees are at their busiest.
Many of the sounds of bees and beekeeping have barely changed for thousands of years, whereas others are distinctly modern. We’ll hear single bees collecting nectar as they move from flower to flower, and clusters of bees jostling against each other inside a busy hive. The beekeeper releases puffs of smoke to calm his bees as he inspects their work and we can hear the subtle differences in buzzing between a colony with or without a queen.
Over in the workshop, or ‘honey room’, we witness the processes that transform a frame of honeycomb into a pot of honey, from the spinning of the frames to the filling of the jars.
A Tandem Production for BBC Radio 3

7,789 Listeners

1,063 Listeners

5,509 Listeners

1,798 Listeners

1,869 Listeners

1,072 Listeners

2,087 Listeners

4,408 Listeners

2,270 Listeners

3,211 Listeners

9,487 Listeners

772 Listeners

1,470 Listeners

1,041 Listeners

770 Listeners

3,396 Listeners

1,185 Listeners

804 Listeners

620 Listeners

1,637 Listeners

446 Listeners

96 Listeners

129 Listeners